Before athletes took a knee: 7 movies where sports and social issues collided

“Can’t we keep politics out of sports?” was the question that echoed across America this weekend, thanks to two concurrent controversies: Dozens of NFL players kneeling during the National Anthem in protest against police violence and racial injustice, and the rescinded invitation from the White House for Stephen Curry and the NBA champion Golden State Warriors.

Politics and social issues are as much a part of sports as referees and scoreboards. Issues of feminism and gender equality are at the heart of “Battle of the Sexes,” a new movie that chronicles the famous 1973 tennis match between Billie Jean King (Emma Stone) and Bobby Riggs (Steve Carell). The movie opens in Salt Lake City theaters this Friday.

But the King/Riggs game wasn’t the first time sports became a symbol for something bigger in society. Here, in chronological order, are seven movies where sports were more than just a game.

1. ‘Olympia’ (1938)

Following her infamous Nazi propaganda film “Triumph of the Will” (1935), filmmaker Leni Riefenstahl landed the International Olympic Committee’s assignment to document the 1936 Olympic Games in Berlin. The resulting movie was lauded for its cinematic technique — pioneering the use of tracking shots and slow-motion coverage — but derided for Riefenstahl’s attempt to glorify Adolf Hitler’s ideas about perfectly sculpted Aryan bodies. Of course, the four medals won by African-American track and field athlete Jesse Owens put the lie to Hitler’s ideas.

2. ‘The Greatest’ (1977)

Really, who else could play Muhammad Ali, the larger-than-life heavyweight champion, than Ali himself? Director Ted Gries died before the release of this biographical drama, which traces Ali’s career from his 1960 Olympic triumph (under his birth name, Cassius Clay), his early heavyweight titles, his conversion to Islam, his refusal to be drafted to fight in Vietnam, the loss of his title, and his comeback in the “Rumble in the Jungle.” With a cast that includes Ernest Borgnine, Robert Duvall, Paul Winfield and James Earl Jones (as Malcolm X), it’s Ali, naturally, who holds the movie together with his boundless charisma.

3. ‘Chariots of Fire’ (1981)

Discrimination at the Olympics didn’t start with Hitler in 1936. This Best Picture Oscar winner is set during the 1924 Olympic Games, focusing on the friendship between two British track stars: Harold Abrahams (Ben Cross), who is Jewish, and Eric Liddell (Ian Charleson), a devout Christian. Issues of faith, class, and anti-Semitism play out off the track, all set by director Hugh Hudson to Vangelis’ famous synthesizer score.

4. ‘Bend It Like Beckham’ (2002)

Soccer, sexism and culture clashes play out in director Gurinder Chadha’s charming comedy-drama. Jesminder, aka Jess (Parminder Nagra, later of “ER”), is obsessed with soccer — and her hero, English star David Beckham — but can’t tell that to her traditional Punjabi parents. Jess meets Juliette, aka Jules (Keira Knightley), who convinces her to try out for a local women’s club. Once again, the meritocracy on the playing field helps point out the inequalities off of it.

5. ‘Offside’ (2006)

Director Jafar Panahi set this affecting drama during a 2005 match between Iran and Bahrain (to qualify for the 2006 FIFA World Cup), but little of the game is seen. That’s because Panahi focuses on a group of six young women, in custody in a holding area outside the Tehran stadium, arrested for trying to sneak into the game — in violation of Iranian law, which forbids women from fraternizing with men. Panahi’s sly story illuminates the absurdity of Iran’s sexist laws, and the ways that sport both divide and unite its fans.

6. ‘Invictus’ (2009)

It’s 1995, and Nelson Mandela (Morgan Freeman) is struggling with the challenges of his new post-apartheid government in South Africa, and healing the rifts between black and white. With South Africa playing host to the 1995 Rugby World Cup, Mandela hopes his country’s team, the Springboks, can be a symbol of unity. For that to happen, though, the predominantly white team will have to let in black players, so Mandela enlists the Springboks’ captain, François Pienaar (Matt Damon), to build an integrated team. Directed by Clint Eastwood, the movie is carried by Freeman’s soulful performance as the aged but still hopeful Mandela.

7. ’42’ (2013)

The greatest hero in baseball — Jackie Robinson — is given a biopic that focuses on his rookie season with the Brooklyn Dodgers in 1947, as the first African-American to play in the majors. Though the movie centers on Robinson (Chadwick Boseman) and his relationship with the Dodgers’ executive, Branch Rickey (Harrison Ford), there’s a worthy subplot about Wendell Smith (André Holland), a black sportswriter who followed Robinson’s rise, and experienced similar struggles being accepted among the press corps that Robinson did on the field.